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Lot Essay
James Newton (1760-1829) was a London cabinet-maker with premises on Wardour St. Newton trained in the workshop of Laurence Fell and William Turton from 1774, aged just 14. He became a master cabinet-maker in 1781. There are a number of pieces, each of contemporary date to the present lot and also incorporating a simulated porphyry surface, that can be confidently attributed to Newton. At Belton House in Lincolnshire, for example, there is an occasional table acquired from Newton by John, 2nd Baron, 1st Earl Brownlow. The Belton table, like the present pair of pedestals, combines simulated porphyry, bronzing and giltwood on carved surfaces to stylish effect (See NT 434795). At Castle Howard, Yorkshire, there are a pair of console tables with simulated porphyry bases which can be connected to Newton through bills. An almost identical pair of tables was supplied, likely by Newton, to Harewood House, Leeds for Edward Lascelles, 1st Earl of Harewood (d.1820). Giles Ellwood, in his article ‘James Newton’, Furniture History Society, vol. XXXI, 1995, pp. 129-205, attributes a pedestal of simulated marble and porphyry to Newton. The pedestal is none other than that probably supplied to Matthew Boulton as a base for his famed Sidereal Clock, rejected in 1787 by Catherine the Great and later used as furnishing in Boulton’s own Soho House. Interestingly, a pair of cabinet stands, attributed to Newton, was sold from the Bute Collection on 3 July 1996, lot 45. The stands of carved giltwood each have naturalistic reeded animal legs, with distinctive knee joints, not unlike the carving of the legs of the present stands. The related examples of Regency furniture outlined above, make an attribution to Newton for the present pair of torchères seem plausible.
Another identical pair of torchères, perhaps erroneously catalogued as North European, early 19th century, sold from Ven House, Somerset; Christie’s, London, 21 June 1999, lot 434, published in Allemandi, Il Valore dei Mobili Antichi, Turin, 1983, p. 284.
Another identical pair of torchères, perhaps erroneously catalogued as North European, early 19th century, sold from Ven House, Somerset; Christie’s, London, 21 June 1999, lot 434, published in Allemandi, Il Valore dei Mobili Antichi, Turin, 1983, p. 284.